Heart Murmur In Cats Symptoms

However there are a few clinical signs to lookout for.

Heart murmur in cats symptoms. Collapsing spells from an irregular heart rhythm or small. If you have any questions or concerns about your cats health be sure to get in touch with your vet. Since the causes of heart murmurs in cats are varied their symptoms can be similarly diverse.

Heart murmurs range from being practically inaudible even with a veterinary stethoscope to being very loud. The most common symptoms that are observed with a cat that has a clinically significant heart murmur are poor appetite weight loss or stunted growth in a kitten breathing problems pale gums lethargy or weakness. They can be heard when a cat is stressed and the heart rate has increased.

In more severe cases heart murmurs can even produce big vibrations that you may be able to feel through your cats. Cat heart murmur symptoms need not mean a shorter life. Some other extracardiac heart murmurs are secondary or caused by changes in the heart that occur because of some other disease - in cats the most common cause of a secondary heart murmur is hyperthyroidism see handout Hyperthyroidism in Cats which causes a form of cardiomyopathy called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

The symptoms accompanying the heart murmur should be warning signs that you need. There are usually no external symptoms clinical signs of a heart murmur in itself. The magnitude of murmurs is generally classified in grades with 1 being the least serious and 6 the most serious.

The most common symptoms that are observed with a cat that has a clinically significant heart murmur are poor appetite weight loss or stunted growth in a kitten breathing problems pale gums lethargy or. To diagnose the cause of a heart murmur your vet might recommend tests such as blood tests echocardiograms and chest x-rays. It clearly depends on the severity of the heart disease.

It seems that a decent and sometimes a long life can be had by a cat with a heart murmur. Sudden loss of function of one or more legs due to blood clots obstructing blood flow to the affected legs. The main symptom of a heart murmur unsurprisingly is its sound.